Submission of the Institute for NGO Research: Commission of Inquiry Must be Held Accountable for its Biases and Rule Violations

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COI’s Continuing Rule Violations

We must first address that yet again, and as in previous sessions, the COI did not submit its report to the Human Rights Council in a timely fashion to allow for civil society to respond in accordance with the deadline for NGO written submissions to the Human Rights Council. By not allowing ample time for civil society to analyze and comment on its report, COI has blocked civil society’s ability to engage meaningfully with the Human Rights Council and its representatives. Additionally, the June Human Rights Council session consists only of interactive dialogues where NGO speaking slots are severely limited, and therefore, written submissions are the only opportunity for NGOs to interact with various UN representatives. Without being presented the report on time and in violation of UNHRC rules, the COI has effectively silenced civil society.

Grave Concerns of the UN Commission of Inquiry’s Ability to Conduct a Fair Investigation 

Following the barbaric massacre, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC’s) permanent “Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and in Israel” (COI) issued a one-off report regarding the October 7 atrocities. Yet, this report refused to call Hamas attacks on Israel as crimes against humanity and has further minimized and decontextualized the atrocities by attempting to separate them from the broader context of the war.  Moreover, the COI grossly downplayed well-documented and systematic Hamas sexual violence on October 7. Instead, the COI has inverted these attacks on Israelis and Jews accusing of false claims of “genocide” amongst other calumnies. The CoI minimizes and downplays the tens of thousands of rocket attacks on Israeli population centers and on-going shootings, bombings, stabbings, and car rammings by Palestinian terrorists against Israeli civlians. It also has completely whitewashed the issue of Palestinian aid diversion, Similarly, although the COI purports to driven by its mandate of “root causes” of the conflict, it systematically ignores the role of Iran, Qatar, and Turkey in financing, arming, training, and in information warfare through which these countries perpetuate the conflict and “globalize the intifada”. Lastly, and most notably, the COI has done no advocacy on behalf of the Israeli hostages. While they have held multiple public hearings to libel Israel, they have yet to engage in any public work on behalf of Israeli victims currently being tortured in Hamas tunnels and UN facilities, emphasizing the on-going selectivity of this body.